Candyland Game

I love using familiar games to teach music concepts and one of my favorites is Candyland.  I actually found this game as a beach towel one summer.  I snatched it up and knew I could use it for teaching music.  I wrote the musical alphabet on the colored squares to make the game musical.  To play I have students pick a pawn (usually a fun eraser) and then draw a card.  I use some staff cards for level one and up and keyboard cards (cards with an x on a key) for my beginners. You identify that note and go to that letter on the board.  The fun candyland cards are intermingled in the staff cards. You can get a candy cane, gum drop or ice cream cone (my favorite). The special cards that came with the towel were really big, so the kids knew when they were about to get a special card.  I decided to make my own special card and just attached them to some playing cards that were the same size as my staff/keyboard cards.  I usually play with them or have another student join them.  It is a whole lot of fun and motivates the students to learn those note names.

Thanks to Layton Music for this idea